


It Started With the Milk

by C4mag1



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Angst, Body Horror, Gen, I'll change the tags as the story progresses, Injury, Insomnia, Mild Gore, Minor Injuries, Parasites, Psychological Horror, Starts off slow, horror attempt, no ships, self doubt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28420926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C4mag1/pseuds/C4mag1
Summary: Somethings off about Donnie, it began small, with the inconstancies and minor acts of favoritism, but it doesn't sit right with Leo. The off feeling won't go away, it tugs at him with every glance, keeps him up at night, and sets stones on the inside of his stomach. Whatever is going on, he plans on finding out, because he's not sure how much longer he'll be able to bear it.
Relationships: absolutely no ships, no ships - Relationship
Comments: 29
Kudos: 65





	1. It started with the Milk

**Author's Note:**

> I got the inspiration to write this after reading "A Hard to Swallow Proof" by 3DrotTMNT. I really liked the piece and wanted to put my own spin on the idea, so definitely go check out their stuff. This is the first fic that I've actually followed through on so I would be happy to hear any feedback from you guys on how to improve it or if there are any major inconsistencies, let me know and thank you!  
> I do not own anything, and this is a work of fiction, and this would be taking place prior to the season 1 finale.

It started with the milk. 

Leonardo had woken up annoyingly slow. He woke up in a way that turned his dreams into a blurry mesh that messed with his memory and made him uncharacteristically aggravated with himself for not being able to fall back asleep. After a few minutes of battling for slumber, he sat up with a hushed groan. It was late, infuriatingly late for this sort of thing to happen, and with the intensified training they had been doing for the past week, the impromptu wake-up was even more unwelcome than usual. Leo propped up a knee and tried just listening to the ambience of the city echoing through the sewers. The city provided its own brand of white noise. From where Leo sat he could hear the beep of cars and the rush of tires, the fading blares of emergency sires, rushing water from heavy rainfall, even the low boom of spring thunder. He inhaled deeply before releasing a long and sincere sigh. The moment of respite wasn’t enough. As tired as he felt, as comforting as the ambience was, as warm as he felt wrapped in his sheets, he couldn’t fall back asleep. Leo hopped off his bed and exited his room to head to the kitchen.

He filled Dad’s teapot with water and cranked the stove up to high before shuffling through the cabinets looking for something to drink. There was Dad’s Sencha, Genmaicha, Ulongcha, Mugicha (that’d be good). Then there was Leo’s selection of teas: chamomile, Peppermint, and sleepytime. He pulled the box of sleepytime and got a mug ready with the tea bag. On high heat, the water only took another minute to start boiling. He turned off the stove and poured the boiling water into the mug before setting the kettle to the back of the stove in case he’d need it again (which he might). He didn’t want to brush his teeth again so he opted out on the honey this time. Scalding water in hand, he carefully started back towards his room, making it all the way to the curtain before noticing the faint electrical buzz. He looked towards Donnie’s lab, and the dim white of electric light was cutting through the usual fluorescent purple. Leo covered his mouth as he yawned. What kind of brother would Leo be if he didn’t take this opportunity to bug his beloved sibling.

Leo took his time getting to the next level of their home, tea still in hand as he quietly approached Donnie’s lab. Moving past the janky old door he found that Donnie’s “personal space” was more cluttered than usual. The guts of a car lay piled by the entrance while a vending machine laid on its face with it’s back gapingly ajar as its mechanical parts were haphazardly placed back inside of it. This was all bathed in the synthetic purple from the tubes and LED’s that ran along the walls. Donnie was in the far left corner of the room, perched and hunched over on a vertically laid metal trunk with his back to the door, on the floor behind him was his laptop wide open with some nerdy electric playlist playing quietly, enough as to not echo through the whole sewer. The electric buzzing was coming from him. As Leo observed, small bursts of light would erupt for a few moments before subsiding, bathing Donnie in white light and defining his features. He was Welding. Leonardo wasn’t completely stupid, so he leaned on the edge of the vending machine and waited for the buzzing to stop. 

“Hey Donnie,” Donnie twitched in surprise at the sudden noise, turning towards Leo with a startled look. “What’cha doin?”

“Leo,” Donnie paused, his eyes flickering between Leo and the object hidden in his hands before he regained his composure, “why are you up so late? Scratch that, Why are you up so early?”

Leo took a sip of his tea, it was a little scalding but not so much that he wouldn’t drink it. The taste of Rosehips, lemongrass, and mint were the most prominent, but he could definitely feel the effects of the chamomile and hawthorn. “I should be asking you that.” Leo leaned forward, he teased “what you got there?” 

“None of your business, Leo,” Donnie held the mysterious object closer to himself. “Go back to bed.”

Leo set his tea down on the vending machine and approached him, suddenly feeling a lot less tired. “C’mon,” Leo put his weight on his brother's shoulders, trying to look over Donnie’s body to see what he was hiding, “what is it? Is it for the drill?” It must have been small in order to hide between Donnie’s closed fists.

“No!” He tried shrugging Leo off, “the drill is still in Beta!” He rocked backwards but Leo pushed him back. At this point Leo was standing on the trunk, putting his full body weight on Donnie, trying to peak at what his brother was hiding.

“What is it then?” Leo continued with a smirk, “is it for the turtle tank?”

“No.” 

“The soft serve machine?”

“No.”

“Teleporting Microwave?”

“No!” Donnie attempted to shove Leo with his shoulders, becoming aggravated when his attempt failed. “None of those, Leo, now get off!”

“Show me!” Leo reached out over Donnie’s shoulders, trying to get some kind of grip on the object. “What is it?” Leo grasped Donnie’s hand trying to pull it off to see what he was working on

Donnie’s panic escalated. “It’s a-” His hand started to give way, he tried shoving back again but it was as much of a success as the first time. “It’s a surprise!”

Leo let go of Donnies hand. “Ooooh! I see,” Leo kept a teasing tone in his voice and kept his weight leaning on Donnie. “Pop’s birthday? Little early don’t you think.” It was early, way too early. Dad’s birthday was in September, and April only just started.

“No, uh…” He paused for a moment, caught off guard and looking for an answer. He looked at his hand, and took another few moments before looking back to Leo. With a smile, he said “it’s for everyone.”

“Okay~” Leo alleviated some of the weight and folded his arms on top of Donnie’s head. There was a pause of silence between them.

Donnie spoke with a deep hum, “which means that it’s a secret.” 

“Uh-huh,” Leo responded.

“To everyone.”

“Uh-huh~”

“Including you.” This came with a bit of a low growl, but it wasn’t as aggressive as before.

“Hm.” Leo drew out the hum and closed his eyes, starting to tune into the soft music still coming from Donnie’s laptop. “Okay.” He could feel Donnie relax a little, although he was definitely still rigid. Leo pulled his weight off of Donnie and stepped off of the trunk. He retrieved his tea from the vending machine and took a sip, it was the perfect temperature now so he took a fuller swallow, letting the herbal fusion coat his tongue. He heard Donnie sigh, relieved with the return of some privacy.

Leo purposefully stayed for another few seconds, the exhaustion was returning. The small tussle with his brother and the familiar fluorescent lights had made him start to relax again. He looked around the room for a moment, at the large glowing table, the screens that lined the walls, the battle shells and other miscellaneous battle equipment on the other end of the room. Even the coffee cup…

“Where did you get chocolate milk?” The pale brown concoction sat behind the trunk, Leo wouldn’t have been able to see it when he had walked in. Dad had stopped buying them chocolate milk years ago after they had refused to stop chugging a gallon a day. If Donnie had some of that, where could he get in on that action.

Donnie grumbled, “it’s not chocolate milk,” with Leo behind him he tucked the object close to his stomach to free a hand. He picked up the mug and took a few swallows before setting it down again with a refreshed sigh, “it’s coffee.”

“Ugh,” Leo groaned as he started walking away, “I was really hoping it'd be chocolate milk.”

“Yeah, well, sorry to disappoint.” Donnie rolled his eyes. “Now go away.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo swallowed the rest of his tea as he exited the door, “goodnight.” The only response he got was the electrical buzz of the welder.

Leo dropped his mug off at the kitchen sink and quickly returned back to his bedroom. After crawling back into his sheets, the pull of sleep was almost immediate and he began to drift back into unconsciousness. The rush of rainwater, the rush of tires, the rush of white noise, it all tugged him back down. He rolled over on his side and tried to think of something that would help him walk into a deep sleep, maybe even a dream. The heat from Dad’s teapot, the taste of mint, the feeling of chamomile on the tongue, purple lights, messing with Donnie, a mystery device, a cup of coffee, coffee that was usually drunk black, but tonight… had milk.


	2. Breakfast and a Brawl

Leo awoke to the violent clatter of pots and pans. Despite the stiffness, the sleep was still there with him, desperately trying to drag him back into a dream that he couldn’t remember. When another bang sounded, he turned over with a groan and covered his head with his sheets. The movement triggered a soreness in his shoulders, and he very suddenly became aware of the growing crick in his neck. With another quiet growl he turned over again, trying to alleviate some of the unwelcome aches and pains. He stilled, focusing on the warmth of his sheets and the sound of his own breathing. It was still raining. Aside from the noise from the kitchen he could still hear the blurred whir of New York’s spring rainfall. Leo heard a quiet boom of thunder and he remembered those quiet noises from the night before, although they were definitely more of a distant hush now that the morning was here. With the adjustment of his body and the warmth of his sheets, Leo began drifting off again. It was slow and comfortably heavy as he sank back into a sleep-like state, he felt warm and comfortable, and he slowly began to forget that he was ever awake in the first place.

Leo twitched at the combination of a heavy slam accompanied by a shout. It ripped him into a sitting position and he groaned, forcing himself out of bed and taking his blanket with him.

\--

Mikey was already dressed for the day, and by dressed, Leo meant that he was out of pyjamas and wearing his favorite belt. Mikey’s phone was leaning on the cereal box and was plugged into a pair of earphones that trailed into his head. He multitasked eating his cereal while watching a video, swinging his legs cheerily as he giggled on whatever was on screen. He noticed Leo and removed one of his earbuds.

“Good morning, Leo!” He said with a smile. Mikey watched as Leo trudged into the kitchen.

Leo’s voice was a barely coherent mumble, “m’rnin.”

The source of this morning's clammer was found not too far from the door, where Raph had squeezed himself halfway into the bottom cabinet. He was on his knees and surrounded by an explosion of pots, pans, plastic tupperware, and glass and metal bowls. As Leo carefully stepped through the mess, Raph noticed him.

“Oh, hey!” Raph shot up too fast and hit his head on the top of the cabinet with a bang that was even louder than the ones Leo had woken up to. He rubbed his head and excited the cabinet with a glowing smile, “morning Leo.”

Leo replied with a grumble as he walked past him. “What are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for that Lou Jistsu ‘Hot Soup’ bowl that dad was using the other day, y’know, the red and yellow one?” 

Leo yawned, “you mean the really big one or the one the size of a shot glass?”

Raph used his hands to illustrate the size, “the  _ REALLY _ big one.”

Leo shuffled further into the kitchen, “why do you want that?”

Leo blindly opened the fridge and reached for the juice bottle, he grasped it by the neck but pulled up too hard, sending his hand rocketing into the top of the fridge. Someone had put the  _ empty _ orange juice bottle back in the fridge. He turned to Mikey who gleefully sipped at the last of it. With a sigh he chucked the empty bottle into the garbage. Dad’s teakettle was still on the un-lit backburner so he shuffled to the stove, slid the kettle forward, and cranked on the heat. 

“Okay,” Raph started, “so I was watching Lou Jitsu’s ‘Lou Jitsu’s Soba Showdown’ and Lou eats that 25 gallon bowl of Soba to gain the trust of the Mafia leader, before doing a double betrayal and defeating the bad guys, remember?”

“I recall,” Leo was feeling peppermint today so with another yawn he popped open the box and took a packet, (he was getting low on the mint, might have to put that on the next grocery list). 

“Right,” Raph’s excitement grows, “so I’m gonna do that.” 

“Meet up with the mafia??”

“No, eat the Soba!”

“25 gallons?” Leo exclaims as he returns to the fridge and takes a lemon from the drawer. “Of Soba?” He cut it open with a knife that was already on the counter and squeezed some juice into the mug.

“Yeah!” Raph dives back into the cabinet and another few bowls slip out onto the floor. “So I need to find that bowl, because it’s the biggest one we’ve got.”

“Wait,” Mikey interjects as he removes one of his earbuds again, “Raph, what are you looking for?”

“The Lou Jitsu bowl!” The set of copper bowls falls from the cabinet with a ringing clang, bummer, those are Dad’s favorites.

“Which one,” Mikey asks, “the really big one, the cereal one, or the one the size of a shot glass?”

Raph sticks his head back out from under the cabinets, “cereal one? We have a Lou Jitsu cereal bowl?”

Mikey takes a bite of his cereal, “yeah!” 

“Where?” Raph asks.

Mikey chews a bit before answering, “I’m using it.”

Leo turns to Mikey as he rotates his bowl, sure enough, white and red flames with a cartoonish picture of Lou adorn the dish.

Raph gasps, “how long have we had that?”

Mikey swallows before taking another mouthful of cereal, after a brief pause he answers with a smile, “a while.”

Leo tuned out of the next part of their conversation when the kettle started whistling behind his shell. He turned and quickly switched the stove off. He carefully poured the boiling water into the prepared mug and set Dad’s kettle back on the backburner of the stove to let sit in case he needed it again.

Raph and Mikey were still talking about bowls as Leo began his walk towards the table. Raph had retreated back into the cabinets to continue his dig so Leo bent down quietly and picked up one of the smaller glass bowls before shuffling over to sit across from Mikey at the breakfast table.

“Why can’t I find this bowl?!” 

“The cereal bowl?”

“No!” Raph shouts from the cabinets, “the really big one! Soba Showdown!”

“Oooooh!” Mikey draws the word out with a mouthful of cereal as Leo starts filling his own bowl with breakfast flakes.

“Raph,” Leo loosened the sheets around his shoulders as he became more comfortable with the temperature of the room. The left-over exhaustion from last night was starting to wear off as he began to wake-up. “Are you sure you’re even looking in the right cabinet?”

‘ “This is the bowl cabinet! Why wouldn’t it be in the bowl cabinet?!” Raph’s frustration was rising.

“I keep this bowl in my room,” Mikey had turned off the screen of his phone at this point. He wrapped up his earbuds and took the cereal from Leo to refill his own bowl. “Maybe Dad has it?”

“No, I asked Pop’s last night and he said it was in the bowl cabinet,” he hit his head on the inside of the cabinet again and growled, “with the bowls!”  
“What are you looking for?” Leo turned his head as Donnie walked into the kitchen. He was awake and alert, holding a coffee cup.

“Good morning, Donnie,” Mikey took the milk before Leo could use it, “Raph’s looking for the Lou Jitsu bowl.”

“The shot glass or the big one?” Donnie walked over to the coffee machine and detached the pot to refill his mug.

Mikey, Raph, and Leo all said in unison with varying degrees of energy, “the big one.”

“It’s on top of the fridge.”

Leo, Mikey, and Raph all looked to the top of the fridge, where a massive bowl with red and white flames sat filled with potatoes and onions. Donnie sat at the table next to Mikey and took the milk before Leo could grab it, quietly pouring a little in his coffee. 

Raph took a short stack of the largest bowls from the ground and skipped over to the fridge. When Donnie finally sat the jug down, Leonardo grabbed the milk before anyone else could take it and poured it over his cereal. With the milk finally added, he took a few bites. It was Mikey’s favorite too-sweet, marshmallow and wafer bargain-brand cereal that he always asked Dad for. Leo picked up his tea and took a sip to check the temperature, it was still really hot but not painfully so. The lemon and peppermint came through nicely so he took a deeper sip.

Donnie sat his mug down with a smile and pulled out his phone. Mikey zeroed in on the cup.

“Are you drinking choccy milk?!” Mikey squealed.

“What?” Donnie was caught off guard at the sudden, loud question.

“You’ve got chocolate milk?!” Raph shouted from the fridge, trying to balance the large bowl (still full of potatoes and onions) on his shoulders as he took it down.

“No!” Donnie sighed, “you just saw me pour the milk, Mikey, it’s coffee.”

“Aw~” Mikey sighed and plugged his earbuds back in to continue watching his video.

Leonardo took another bite of his cereal and chewed for a few seconds. Donnie took another swallow from his mug, keeping his eyes on the screen of his phone. The night before was a blur. Leonardo remembered waking up exhausted and really wanting to go back to sleep. Messing with Donnatello was fun for a million reasons, but this morning, as he sat across the table from him, his cereal was sitting uncomfortably in the bottom of his stomach. Leo picked up his tea and took another sip, eyeing Donnie as he did the same with his own drink. “When did you start putting milk in your coffee?”

Donnie's eyes flicked upwards, “hm?”

“You’ve always taken your coffee black,” Leo took another bite of cereal and looked at the mug in Donnie’s hand, it was the same mug as the night before. With the kitchen lights on he could see it was a purple mug with a picture of Atomic Lass on the side. “When did you start adding milk?”

Donatello put down his mug and attempted to focus back in on his phone, “uhh, just…” he started typing something. “I don’t know… recently?” 

Leo smiled, “what happened to ‘I like my coffee to be as black as my soul.’” Leo deepened his voice at the soul coffee line, teasingly chuckling at Donnie who was looking at him now. He looked confused, studying Leo with an expression that Leo couldn’t recognize on his brother’s face.

“When did I say that,” he scoffed, “milk and coffee go great together.” Donnie swallowed audibly as he finished the last of what was in his mug. He set the cup down again and kept typing on his phone. Leo took another bite of his cereal, he was getting close to the bottom of his bowl now, but he wasn’t as hungry as he usually was so he didn’t think he’d be going for a second bowl. Mikey chuckled with a mouthful of cereal and Donnie looked up again, first at Mikey but then back to Leo with furrowed brows. “Why do you care?”

Leo stopped chewing, “I don’t, I just…” he wasn’t done chewing but he swallowed to clear his mouth. It stuck to his throat. “Making conversation?” Leo picked up his tea and swallowed, trying to move the cereal down. Donnie made another face that Leo didn’t recognize, it still had the inquisitive nature but more… suspicious?

Donnie looked hesitant, picking up his mug again to take another sip before he realized his cup was empty, “I mean, it definitely tastes better.” He left the table, breaking eye contact as he walked towards the coffee machine. 

There was suddenly a small stone forming in his stomach, it wasn’t heavy, but it was there. Leo adjusted his shoulders and sat up trying to get comfortable again. ‘Donnie’s a lot more tired than me,’ the little voice in his head rang. That’s right! Donnie was up before and, supposedly, after Leo had woken up last night working on that secret thing. He must have been drinking coffee non-stop and needed a little change to the bitterness. Leonardo’s tea was room temperature now and he greedily swallowed the rest. He sat the cup down with a loud tap just as Donnie sat down.

He didn’t take the milk this time.

Mikey stood abruptly with a satisfied “wew!” He had finished his cereal and his show, and with a quick stretch he left the table. 

Donatello slowly took a mouthful of his coffee, noticeably trying to stifle the grimace that forced itself on his face as he swallowed. Leo stared for a moment, ‘he’s drunk his coffee black since we were 10,’ the small voice whispered, ‘all those fluorescent lights must’ve killed his taste buds’. The reasoning wasn’t as confident.

Leo had to look away when Donnie’s eyes shifted to him with that bitter-coffee-scowl, it wasn’t Donnie’s, ‘you’re annoying me, brat,’ look, it was resentful and reserved, and it caused a density that reached across the table. Leonardo took another bite of his cereal but the weight in his stomach only deepened under his brother's unfamiliar gaze. He wordlessly pushed the milk towards Donnie.

“I got the bowl!” Raph bellowed, appearing behind the table and holding the themed movie bowl above his head. The dense gaze was immediately alleviated as Donnie was pulled away from the stare of his own making. Leo sighed in relief as Donnie took the milk and unscrewed the top.

Mikey put his bowl in the sink, “Raph, why do you need a Lou Jitsu bowl the size of a bathtub anyway?”

“He wants to try and eat 25 gallons of Soba.” Leonardo leaned back in his chair, using his knee to pry away from the table. With the gaze lifted, Leo put on a smile as he directed his information to no-one-in-particular.

Donnie looked up from his mug as he finished filling it to the top with milk, “I’m sorry,” exasperated, “25 gallons?”

“Of Soba,” Leo’s smile widened, “yeah.”

“That’s an awesome idea Raph!” Mikey cheered, “now how do you make Soba?” 

“Uh...:” Raph paused, “I was just gonna, y’know, buy it from somewhere.”

Mikey scoffed, borderline offended, “you were just gonna  _ buy _ soup?”

“Yeah?” Raph mumbled, his voice starting to sound confused.

“No. No no.” Mikey continued with the tone of refusal in his voice escalating, “no no no no no.” He whipped out his phone in a dramatic fashion and started typing. “This is a Soba. Showdown.  _ Challenge. _ ” He pulled up an image and Leo had to lean out of his chair to see the LED picture. The image was a human lady sitting at a table surrounded by empty bowls in a restaurant, headlined “Woman eats 300 bowls in 17 minutes.” Mikey showed the image to Raph and then Donnie, who was showing little interest as he dove into his own phone. “We are gonna  _ make _ our own Soba.”

“Mikey,” Donnie sighed, “you don’t know  _ how _ to make Soba.”

Leo chimed in, “hey, he can probably figure it out.” There was a tinge of sarcasm in his voice, but it wasn’t full hearted. Mikey was, afterall, a better cook than any of them. Japanese cuisine wasn’t exactly his forté, but he was pretty killer with Italian. “And he’s right,” Leo added.

“About what?” One of Donnie’s eyebrows rose with the question.

Leo pointed to Raphael, “Raph, is this really a soba eating challenge?”

“Uh,” Raph hesitated for a moment before he answered excitedly, “yeah! Yeah it is!”

“ _‘Hot Soup_ ’ is our catchphrase,” Leo picked up his bowl and drank the milk from it, setting it down with a loud tap before he finished his sentence with a refreshed sigh, “as much as we talk about soup we should be able to make our own.”  
“Yeah!” Mikey shouted, “what he said!” 

“Yeah! Except…” Raph deflated as he set the bowl down on the table between the four of them, Leo had to sit up straighter to see over the bowl, it was ridiculously large. “We don’t even know if we’re going to like Soba.”

“What are you talking about,” the familiar rasp caught Leo by surprise. “You boys love Sansai Soba.” Splinter walked into the kitchen with a hearty yawn as he passed his boys, skipping the breakfast table and walking directly to the fridge. It was unusually early for him to be up, his normal wake up time was closer to noon.

“Sorry pop’s,” Leo chuckled, “but we’ve never had Soba.”

“Yes you have.”

“What’s Sansai Soba?” Mikey inquired, walking over to lean on the counter.

“You’ve had it,” Dad pulls out a leftover Panda Express box, hopping onto the counter close to Mikey with a pair of chopsticks.

“Uh, no Dad,” Donnie looked up from his phone as he brought his mug close to his face, “we haven’t.”

Dad popped open the box, mixing up the contents with his utensils, “yes you have.”

“Yeah,” Donnie muttered under his mug as he took a sip, “pretty sure we’d all remember something like ‘Sansai Soba’.”

“Dad, when did we have it?” Raph questioned.

“Mm,” their Dad hummed thoughtfully, a smile creeping in as he searched through the brain fog to find the answer, “Red, you were about… five years old?”

“Oh, yeah,” a scoff erupted from Leo, “like we’re gonna remember that!”

“Eh,” Splinter remarked.

Mikey repeated himself, still curious, “Dad, what’s sansai soba?”

“Sansai Soba is a soup,” Splinter took a bite of cold noodles, talking with a full mouth. “It’s made with mountain vegetables, buckwheat noodles, and dashi stock.”

“We ate that?” Raph said in disbelief.

“Surprisingly,” Dad swallowed, “yes.”

Mikey crossed one of his legs as he leaned closer, “where’d you get it from?” 

“I made it.”

“You can’t cook.” Donnie said matter-of-factly.

“I can too,” Splinter retorted, rising out of his wake-up haze at Donnie’s comment, “I cook all the time!”

Mikey teasingly chuckled, “putting chips in a bowl doesn’t count, Dad.” All four brothers laughed at that while Dad only scowled with a facefull of noodles. Most of the time Dad didn’t use a bowl, he would just eat an entire bag by himself.

“You know nothing!” Dad spat, “I will show you!”

“You’ll make the Soba?” The wonder in Mikey’s voice was hopeful and full of excitement.

“No,” Dad sat the box on the counter and slid off, “ _we_ will be making it.”  
Mikey gasped, “yay, family time!”

“Count me out.”

“Yeah i’m good.” Donnie and Leo spoke at the same time, but they weren’t heard over the excitement from Raph and Mikey. Raph had picked his massive bowl back up and both he and Mikey eagerly followed their father out of the room, leaving the pile of bowls forgotten on the kitchen floor.

Leo’s bowl was empty now, and he was out of tea. He leaned back in his seat and looked to Donnie, who quickly looked away from him and back to his phone as he sipped at his coffee… with milk.

“Not eager to put your chef skills to the test?” Leo teased, an awkwardness had resettled now that the two other brothers were gone.

Donnie looked back to Leo and was silent for a moment before smiling with his response, “no more than you.” 

Leo chuckled as he stood, taking his dishes with him to the sink. He loaded his things into the dishwasher (including his cup from the night before) and walked back to grab his blanket.

Leo could hear the taps of Donnie’ finger pads against his phone as he typed. Leo rolled his blanket into a messy ball as the weight in his tummy returned. “Are you okay?”

Donnie stopped typing and looked up, not really moving as his eyes lifted to Leo. There was a wary uncertainty as he answered. “Yeah?” He took a long sip as he stared thoughtfully, “why do you ask?”

Leo didn’t take too long to answer, the pauses were getting monotonous, “just asking.”

He left the kitchen but felt Donnie’s eyes on him as he walked. It was uncomfortable as he felt holes being bored into the back of his neck. When he entered his room Leo threw his blanket on the bed. He could still hear Raph and Mikey talking to their Dad in the living room, but the details of their conversation were obscured by distance and action movie noises. Leo sighed and stretched as he circled his room. The soreness in his neck and shoulders were finally fading into afterthoughts from the movements, he felt a lot better after eating something, but the rock in his stomach from the breakfast table hadn’t left. If anything, it was heavier now, and it grew larger and more uncomfortable the more he thought about the interaction he had with Donnie. There wasn’t anything in particular wrong but it just felt… unfamiliar? ‘Remember,’ the little voice repeated, ‘he must be really tired.’ It didn’t help it’s own case though, because it kept repeating images in his head. The way that Donnie’s face contorted when his tongue touched the black coffee was so unfamiliar, the flickering eye movements were not something that his twin did, the ‘why do you care?’ was too hostile.

With a huff he pushed it all aside, the lack of sleep was just making him paranoid and he knew it. Donnie is tired too, he repeated, Donnie is tired too. Leo stood for a moment, trying to occupy his mind with something else. What did he want to do today?

-

This was Leo’s sixth song, and he was on a roll. He didn’t have a perfect score, but he was high in the ranks of Dance Dance Revolution; and by high, he meant he was back in third place. The tired metal and aged plastic creaked under the furious motion of his feet and he began to break a sweat as his score continued to rise. He hadn’t selected the hardest song in the game, he was planning on working his score up and then he’d choose one of the harder songs for last to see if he could get past Mikey’s score. He wanted to beat Raph’s score, but that was a bit of a pipe dream considering how much Raphael loved this game.

They hadn’t had the dance machine for very long in comparison to some of the other arcade games they had collected. This machine in particular the four brothers had only possessed for about a year, and they hadn’t really found a lot of time to play it with all of the action that had been going on in their lives. Raph had the highest score since he enjoyed the game the most, and towered above them all with a whopping score of 4370, and Mikey was second with a score of 1993. Leo and Donnie, on the other hand, were always switching between third and fourth place. Donnie had held the better dance score for the first month, but then Leo had swiped it during a competitive ‘Pluto the First’ challenge dance, after that, they had kept switching every time they played, neither of them really getting too much of an upper hand. Leo decided to play this when he found himself in fourth place with a score of 620, and Donnie in third with 659.

As the song approached its finale the number of coordinated moves increased, picking up the pace. Leo needed this, after the exhaustion from this morning and his paranoid awkwardness, the dancing was a fantastic distraction from it all. He just needed to get his mind off of it and get his body moving.With one final tap the song finished and Leo sighed in exertion. He took a step off of the pad and bent down to unscrew his water bottle-

“Wow, great score Leo!”

Leo nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden noise, nearly dropping his water in the process. Donnie was there and leaning against the rails of the dancing machine with a look of interest. He was wearing his favorite purple hoodie with the hood draping over his shoulders, this morning’s hostile look was gone. Leo shook off the chill in his spine and played it cool, “why thank you,” Leo bowed dramatically. His score was now 780. Leo took a sip of water before re-capping the bottle and setting it back down to the floor. “I am once again in third place,” he stretched and faced Donnie, a few inches taller than him now thanks to the dance pad, “take that,” he snapped his fingers into a finger gun to accompany the words.

Donatello hummed in response as he looked at the screen. His eyes flicked between the screen and Leo, and for a moment they fell on the water bottle on the floor. A playful grin spread on his face as his eyes narrowed. “I don’t think so,” Donnie leaped over the rail and landed on the alternate pad, “2-player challenge.” He used the buttons below the screen to select the most difficult song in the game: Paranoia Survivor Max. It was short but it was a beater. “Winner takes third.”

Leo chuckled and scrolled down to the start button for him. “You’re on.” He slapped the start button and jumped into place. 

The screen displayed “HERE WE GO” and Leo only had a quick moment to look at the info tab on the bottom right side of the screen - BPM 290; challenge 16. His current score was displayed along with the info. On Donnie’s side of the screen the same information was displayed with his measly score of 659, and Leo was going to keep it that way.

It started quicker than Leo anticipated (as usual) and they were immediately thrown into the fray. Down up down right down up down left up down up down left. This was the most difficult song in Dance Dance Revolution history, and he wasn’t gonna lose to Donnie this time. Donnie usually lost to him, but it was always close, and he had been getting better every time due to his love of dance. Leo winced as he missed a step, but he wasn’t going to let it get to his head, he was going to get into Donnie’s head. A break in the song (literally half a second) was enough time for him to do a spin before landing on the next combination of arrows, he laughed when he hit successfully and added a bit more flare to his movements with some enthusiastic arm choreography.

“Yo, Bootyyyshaker9000.” Down up right up down up left.

“Yeah?” Donnie replied with a pant, Leo could already feel a sting in his ankles as he continued the ridiculously fast paced dance. 

He’d start with a low blow. “How does it feel to rank number 4 in the dance department?” Leo didn’t dare look at Donnie’s side of the screen, he was already missing a few points and he wasn’t going to lose anymore by looking at someone else's arrows.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” their steps were almost in sinc, “last I checked, I was the better dancer.” This morning's pestering weight was dissipating in the activity. This was Donnie! The dance, tech, and Atomic Lass loving dork that had some pretty sweet moves when he wanted to. Leo could hear the smile on his twins face as he was enjoying this too, it had been too long since they had competed like this, they should do it more often. It made him laugh.

“Ha!” Leo did a few key steps, “you call that dancing?” He was going to win this round “You rely too much on a machine, brother, this is dancing!”

Leo began exaggerating his movements, building up kicks and adding a few more spins as he pumped up the energy. Not everyone gets tired when playing DDR, but man, he was starting to feel it. It didn’t matter though, his score was high and he felt good. He did another spin and looked over his shoulder as he did the dance backwards. He heard Donnie emit a sound of frustration as Leo kept up with the movements. Leo laughed and switched back, it was a show-off move but nothing he could do for long.

They were getting close to the end, Leo could tell because he had watched Raph play this song a hundred times (that was an exaggeration, maybe six times, because this song was too crazy to do a hundred times.) He waited for the last move, where he spun again and dabbed at the last step.

Leo let off a sigh of exhaustion and put his hands on his knees as he panted. 442 points! Not marvelous, but perfect in the eyes of DDR. “Take that Don-” 120. Leo did a double take. Donnie’s score was only 120. Donnie was panting but he wasn’t nearly as tired as Leo. Bootyyyshaker9000, the guy who danced with Atomic Lass in times square, who was able to beat Mikey in DDR’s butterfly dance (but no other song and it was only that one time because it was Mikey), who  always came close if he didn’t beat Leo in a double challenge, was sitting close to fail in the score system.

Donnie had his hands on his hips, faking exertion. “Wow, you sure beat me-”

“Donnie are you okay?” Leo cut him off. The rock dropped back into his guts as he stood up straight, coming to eye level with Donnie.

“What?” Donatello looked confused.

“If somethings wrong, you can tell me,” Leo continued as he took a step closer to Donnie, “are you feeling sick or something?”

“Uh... No, I'm fine,” he chuckled, albeit a bit uncomfortably, Donnie chuckled.

Leo continued. “Is it insomnia?” He took another step closer, now on Donnie’s side of the pad. He knew that sometimes Donnie experienced insomnia, the family wasn’t sure if it was chronic or just because of how much coffee purple always consumed, but when he did get insomnia, he got it bad. “You were up pretty late last night.”

Donnie scoffed with a wavering smile, “so where you!”

“Yeah, but you stayed up! It’s okay if somethings wrong, Donnie,” Leo put a hand on his arms, “just tell me.”

Donnie shoved Leo’s hand off, his voice rising. “I’m fine!”

“I don’t think you are!”  
“I’m fine, Leo!” Leo took a step back at the shout. Donnie wasn’t looking at him now, but he was glaring uncomfortably as his eyes darted around trying to find something to focus on. Donnie flipped his hood on and straightened with a sigh. That weight was growing uncomfortable in Leo’s stomach, so he picked up his water bottle and took a chug to try and drown the feeling. It didn’t help. 

“Can I have some of your water?” He didn’t know why, but the request put goosebumps on his skin. Donnie hated backwash, he was the guy who would just buy you a drink if you asked for some of his own, and Leo was already halfway through the cheap plastic bottle. Donnie held his hand out expectantly.

With a brief hesitation, Leo put the bottle in his hand wordlessly, stepping off the dance pad as his brother took a few swallows. He didn’t feel like dancing anymore, or maybe he just didn’t want to be in the same room as Purple.

“Thanks, here,” Donnie smiled awkwardly as he reached the water back towards Leo.

“You can have it.” Donnie’s smile dropped into a blank stare and it sent a chill down Leo’s shell, “i’m not thirsty right now.”

Leo left the room, but neither the chill, the goosebumps, or the weight left him as he could feel a stare tracing him as he walked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't sure if I should have separated this into two chapters or not. But here we are!


	3. Hysteria and Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 baby!

This was worse. This was so much worse.

Maybe it was the echoing boom from a crack of thunder, or maybe it was the cold sweat, either way, Leo woke up with a tight throat and irritated skin. He inhaled sharply with a whine, forcing himself into a seated position as he tapped around blindly for his phone. He felt the cool case under his finger pads and dragged it across the sheets before weakly flipping it over. Leo flinched when the bright screen blinded him, but he blinked out the pain and stared until the numbers on the screen came into view. He groaned. 2:57 am. Leo flipped the phone back over and flung it across the sheets, he didn’t care when he heard it hit the floor. That’s what the case is for. He plopped back onto his shell and took a deep breath. Then he took another. And another. The rain was back in full force this evening. It was a lot louder than it had been the previous night, and although it helped calm his brain down, it did nothing for his body. Pinpricks erupted on his skin, it was too hot and too cold all at the same time. He turned over, but nothing felt right as he tossed and turned on his mattress. He threw the blanket off of himself and he heard it float to the floor. The naked air felt better against his skin and shell, but it wasn’t enough.

After what happened in the game room, Leo spent the rest of the afternoon skateboarding. Mikey and Raph had attached themselves to their father asking about old recipes and making plans, and while he had seen Donnie walk into his lab, he didn’t see him after that. Leo spent the first hour just practicing on the vert-ramp, but once he got tired of that he took to traveling the sewers. The rain had subsided for mid-day, but the damage to the city’s water system had already been done. Leo had nowhere in particular that he wanted to go, so he had skated all the way to Queen’s checking out the flood rooms. The rainfall, along with the city's usual expected water usage, had caused a major amount of flooding, some routes had been completely blocked off by rivers of sewage. The flood rooms were almost filled to capacity, but seemed to be holding fine. Leo had expected for there to be a worse smell, but thanks to the rainfall the smell wasn’t as bad as usual. 

Leo was grateful for the alone time, besides giving him the assurance that his home wasn’t about to be twenty feet under raw sewage, it gave him an opportunity to think. The little voice in his head was giving him less and less reasons to believe that exhaustion was the only reason that Donnie was acting… off. Sure, he was up late, but 120 points. 120 points? He never, _ever_ , dropped below 75% of the score possibility. Leo remembered Donnie remarking about his average score, ‘ _my room for error will never exceed past 25% in order for me to achieve a consistent rate of success,_ ’ whatever that meant. Leo was able to paraphrase that into, ‘I know that my score won’t be perfect, but I’m not a noob to dance.’ Then there was the water bottle, none of the boys were exactly fans of backwash, but Donnie was especially that last person that Leo would expect to just _want_ some of your water. As Leo rolled through the city’s massive pipes, he couldn’t stop going over the whole scene. Donnie’s eager mannerism to dance wan’t off character, but the way his eyes flickered to the water bottle before they even started dancing. Then there was the super low score and the lack of exhaustion after playing DDR’s most difficult song, it’s like he wasn’t even trying in the first place. Then there was that last moment, not just asking for the water, but the way he looked when Leo wouldn’t take it back. The stare was blank, it was hollow, like no-one was home. Leo had returned home right before dinner, where he, Mikey, Raph, and Dad ate the rest of the chinese leftovers. Donnie had made his appearance just as they had finished, but Leo didn’t stick around.

He sighed into his hands, the pressure against his eyes had helped, but not as much as he had hoped. Leo slowly dragged himself out of bed, growling in irritation when he nearly tripped over his fallen blanket.

He knew he might be a little peeved, but he chose Dad’s barley tea this time around. After flicking on the burner and pulling the kettle forward, he zoned out while the water boiled. Leo grasped the teabag loosely as he stared at the blue flames. They waved gently in the dark kitchen, illuminating not only the kettle, but it also created a ghost of the stove. With a sigh, Leo folded his arms and closed his eyes. Warmth radiated from the stove and he just stopped thinking. The blackness and the warmth was enough for him to psychologically melt, so he let it happen. He didn’t feel sleepy anymore, he felt tired. Last night was a joke in comparison to this. His weight pulled his skeleton down to the floor and every breath that Leo took was a full body effort that made him even more exhausted with every intake. He wanted to crawl on top of the table, or maybe slip himself into the oven and rest but he knew that that wouldn’t be any better than his own bed.

The whistling of the kettle brought him back. After switching the heat to low he realized that he didn’t have a mug. Chewing toasted barley kernels and drinking boiling water straight from ‘Old Skully’ didn’t sound fun, so Leo left the bag on the counter to quietly rifle through the cabinets. It was Donnie’s turn to do the dishes tonight, so of course there weren't any clean mugs left. With a grumble, Leo quietly picked a random mug from the dishwasher and turned the sink on to its lowest setting, scrubbing quietly at the inside and rim. ‘At least that hasn’t changed,’ Leo involuntarily laughed at the thought. He was right, Donnie never did the dishes when asked unless it was some new attempt at tech. He cut the laugh short though, he didn’t want to think about Donnie right now.

After a quick rinse he walked the dripping mug back to the stove and dropped the bag in. He poured the (thankfully) still boiling water into the cup and walked to the kitchen table.

Leo sat down with a sigh. The steam from his mug glided over his face and he stared at the small blue flames on the stove. If it wasn’t for the aching exhaustion, Leo might have mistaken this moment for a dream. He stared a bit longer until the chill of the evening brought him back to center. Leo picked his tea up and brought it to his face. The tea was a bit more bitter than he would’ve liked, but the toasted, nutty flavor more than made up for it. Instead of his usual sipping, he swallowed gently, he didn’t want to disturb the moment with noise.

There were gaps that lasted minutes between each swallow. He would drink, stare at the stove, and repeat. Leo didn’t want to think about anything right now, his brain was bouncing between a heavy fog and the start of a headache. When he ran out of tea he would walk back to the stove and do a refill, he used the same bag again the first time, but the tea wasn't as good when he reused the bag so he began changing it every time after that. Yeah. Dad was going to be irritated.

As good as the tea was, and as great as the warmth in his stomach felt, it didn’t relax him. He still felt sore, he still felt tired, and he still felt irritated. He lost track of how much tea he drank. When his hand felt the _empty_ bottom of the mugicha box, he felt a pang of regret that was quickly stifled by his need for more tea. He had to refill the kettle, but after a quick boil he started back on the sleepytime. 

A distant snap pulled him out of his tea frenzy. He froze. When the snap was followed by a clatter he sat his mug down. He flicked off the stove before sneaking into the common room. Leo hesitated when he saw Donnie’s lab illuminated, but when another noise sounded, he knew that it came from deeper in their home.

He stuck to the shadows as he entered the garage. The turtle tank’s lights were on and he could see the bottom hatch ajar, a shadow danced as something was moving on the inside. He didn’t have his sword. With a quick scan he could see an open toolbox by the back tire of the tank. He snuck over quietly, hesitating when another clang (although quieter than the first) struck the floor from the inside, when he heard nothing else Leo took the largest wrench.

He slid beneath the tank and jumped through the hatch, recovering into a standing position and falling into a fight stance. 

Despite his vision being blurred from exhaustion, it wasn’t hard to tell who it was. “Mikey?”

Mikey flinched and turned with the most guilty look on his face. In one hand he grasped a glue stick, and in the other he held the handle of the soft-serve ice cream machine. “Don’t tell Donnie.”

Leo broke out of his fight stance with only a _slight_ stumble and rubbed his temples with a sigh. After a heavy pause, “Mikey, I thought you were a burglar or something…” Leo threw the wrench down with a heavy clang. “What are you doing at-” he looked over his shoulder at the clock in the dashboard and groaned, “4:30 in the morning?”

“I- I wanted some ice cream,” he hesitantly stated with a stutter before breaking into a full ramble. “I woke up a few minutes ago and after talking all day and eating dinner I forgot to have dessert so I woke up and I just really wanted something sweet and I know that donnie just added marshmallow and creamsicle flavor so I thought I’d just come in here real quick and grab some but then the handle wouldn’t go down and I thought “ok I guess i’ll pull a little harder” and then it just SNAPPED in my hands! I got the glue, and it’s my favorite glue stick because it’s worked on everything so far, even dad’s favorite mug, but now the handle won’t stick and I-” As much as Leo loved Mikey, he had to start tuning his voice out or Leo was going to have to start running. Leo stepped over to the machine and looked over to where the metal had snapped.

He cut Mikey off with a snicker. “You forgot to remove the lock before you pulled the lever, dum-dum.” He took the glue stick from Mikey’s hand and capped it, Leo knew that a measly kiddie glue stick wasn’t going to do anything. 

“Don’t tell Donnie.” Mikey dropped back down to a whisper, “please don’t tell Donnie you _know_ how he gets about his tech!” Leo took the lever out of Mikey’s hand and lined it up with the break, if they lined it up just right and added a bit of silver paint, they might be able to hide the break from Donnie for a while. “Stop laughing Leo!”

Leo tightened his lips trying to stifle his giggles, “why did you keep pulling on it?”

Mikey hugged himself subconsciously and rocked on his heels, “I thought it would work!”

“So you thought pulling harder on a thing that doesn’t want to go down would work?”

“It works for Raph!” Mikey’s voice rose again in a shout.

Leo folded his arms with a scoff, “Raph pulling harder is the reason we don’t have a microwave anymore.”

Mikey put his face in his hands and groaned, “Donnie’s going to be so mad!” He began pacing in a tight circle.

“Mikey,” Leo reached for his younger brothers shoulder and pulled him into a loose side-hug, “chillax bro, a little glue, a little time, and a silver sharpie will fix this thing right up.”

“The glue didn’t work,” Mikey whined, dragging his hands down his face and pulling at his eyelids.

“Better glue, Micheal,” He waved the glue stick in front of Mikey before chucking it behind them both. Leo hugged him a little tighter and smiled a little wider, “not your grade school craft glue.”

Mikey whined nervously and looked between Leo and the broken lever that he held in his hands, “you really think we can hide it from Donnie?”

Leo covered his mouth for a quick yawn. “Of course, Mikey,” he said softly, “now let’s find some glue.”

With a few minutes and a quick trip into Raph’s craft box, they had collected a small array of different sticky materials. Mikey set them messily on the counter next to the soft-serve machine.

They tried the white craft glue first, but that just dripped down the sides and wouldn't hold when they let go. The fabric glue was a little more discreet, as it was completely clear, but even after holding it for twenty minutes, the handle fell to the floor with a bang. Next was the glue gun. 

Despite Donnie’s _absolute genius_ he had neglected to put any _normal_ outlets on the turtle tank, so Leo had to skulk back into the dim garage,and quietly dig for a power cord. Leo crawled back through the bottom hatch carrying a daisy chain of six power cords that he had to assemble together. Mikey got the glue-gun ready. 

“Let’s see if this one will work,” Leo smiled, trying to stay positive as he handed Mikey the cord.  
“One of these has gotta work,” Mikey plugged the gun in and tapped his foot impatiently as it heated on the counter, “Donnie was so proud of this.”

Leo chuckled as he leaned against the counter, “don’t worry,” he yawned as he spoke teasingly, “worse case scenario, I’ll just grab the duct tape and blame it on Raph.”

Mikey pouted but said nothing as he sat down with a thump. It was quiet again.

“Speaking of Donnie…” should he even be talking to Mikey about this? 

Mikey groaned at the name. He leaned his head against the wall of the turtle tank, “the ice cream maker was his sixth favorite part of the tank, he’s gonna kill me~” he moaned.

“Every part of the tank is Donnie’s favorite part.” Leo chuckled, but the gravity of his question kept it from being sincere. “Have you noticed anything…” Leo rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously, hesitating to finish his question, “off about him lately?”

“Off how?” Mikey scoffed.

“It’s not serious, it’s just… earlier today we played DDR… and he lost.”

Mikey giggled. “He usually loses Leo, we’ve got too much razzmatazz for ‘em.”

“Well of course he lost to me considering that i’m an _amazing_ dancer,” Leo grinned, but he couldn’t keep it as he continued, “but his score was only 120.”

“That’s pretty low, for Donnie”

“I know!”

Mikey hummed with a smile. “Why are you worried about it? _Number 3_.”

Leo ignored the tease. “Well, it’s not just that,” he remembered the water bottle, “he drank after me.”

“Ew.”

“Yeah, and at breakfast did you see him drink his coffee?”

“Uh,” Mikey scoffed and leaned his face on his hand as he looked up at Leo, “he has coffee like, every minute of the day?”

“He put milk in it!” Leo rubbed his eyes trying to wipe out some of the drowsiness that was clouding his vision.

“So?”

“This is Donnie! He doesn’t put milk in his coffee!” Leo’s voice rose unintentionally.

“He drinks pumpkin spice Latte’s sometimes.”

“It’s April!” Leo guffawed as he brought his hands up to accentuate his point. Donnie didn't like that they knew about his love affair with fall flavors, but that was the only time he changed his preference. Leo continued to carp, “Donnie’s taken his caffeine black since we were 10, and what. He just starts putting milk in it overnight?”

Mikey speaks softly but firmly, putting his hands up in a defensive position to try and calm Leo down, “calm down Leo, is it really such a big deal that he has a little dairy to go with his beans?”

Leo stopped and snapped his head at Mikey, who flinched at the sudden attention, “so you haven’t noticed anything?”

“I mean…” Mikey hesitated with wide eyes, “Leon… are you ok?”

“I’m fine, just…” Leo repeated quieter, “you haven’t noticed anything?”

There was a pause between them, Mikey sat contemplatively as Leo sighed in frustration, he shouldn’t have said anything.

“I’m sorry Mikey,” Leo stood up straight and took a few uneasy paces before coming back to the counter. He rubbed his face with his hands, the lack of sleep was making him crazy. “I think i’m just tired.”

“It’s okay…” Mikey chuckled. His brows furrowed before he slowly turned his head to look towards Leo. “Donnie just…” He dropped his voice to a nervous mumble, “I mean, there was this one thing but it’s not like the thing he did was anything serious.” 

Leo’s eyes widened and he looked to see the nervous expression on Mikey’s face, “what?” 

Mikey nervously rubbed at the back of his neck.

“Was it the coffee?” Leo asks.

“No, it wasn’t the coffee,” Mikey laughed awkwardly, folding into himself a little more. “It was yesterday.”

“But you were with Dad and Raph all day, right?” Leo contemplated, he had been in the sewers by himself for the majority of that day, what did he miss?

“No, that was today.” Mikey stated, looking confused.

“So you mean the day after yesterday,”

“Whatever, just…” He looked uncomfortable as he started to pick at the flooring.

“What is it?”

“I don’t…” Mikey tapped his fingers against the floor of the turtle tank, avoiding eye contact briefly as he tried to consider his answer. “It really was just this one thing?” He chuckled quietly. “It’s so dumb too, but I haven’t stopped thinking about it.”

“What do you mean?” Leo went down to the floor and scooted close to Mikey.

Mikey hesitated to answer, “he turned off Shelldon.” 

“What?”

“Raph had broken the game cube, so I went to ask Donnie to fix it before dinner. I went in his lab but he wasn’t there, and that’s when I saw Shelly lying in his charging station. I tried talking to him, but he was off. No lights, no eye movement, just… off”

“Like… charging?” Leo asked.

“No.” Mikey answered quickly, still avoiding eye contact as he spoke. “Like off. Off, off.”

“Shelldon can’t turn off,” Donnie had installed multiple processors into Shelldon in order for him to be able to be alert at all times, a ‘security measure’ as he had put it, “He’s got a sleep mode-”

Mikey looked at Leo suddenly, and there was a bead of panic depicted on his face, “he was open and his battery was sitting on the table.”

Leo’s throat tightened. Donnie would never do that. “Woah… that’s…”

“When Donnie came in I asked him about it,” Mikey rubbed the back of his neck again and his voice got even quieter as he continued, “he said he just needed to change the battery in order to… something about his coolant?” His explaining tone of voice didn’t really convey that he believed that. “I didn’t really get it, but he said he’d fix the game cube so I left,” Mikey looked away from Leo and stood. He picked up the glue gun.

Leo was stunned. He turned off Shelldon. Shelldon! Shelldon was the one family member that Donnie could tolerate for more than ten minutes and he just… gutted him on the table? He didn’t remember seeing Shelldon the previous night when he had bothered Donatello, but then again, the lab was pretty messy, he could have missed him among the broken car and vending machine.

“It was just that one thing though,” Mikey cut into his thoughts. Leo stood as Mikey began squeezing the clear sealant on the handles break. Leo picked up the handle that laid on the counter and pushed it against the fracture. “We shouldn’t be talking about him like this.”

“Wha-” Leo was shocked, “you can’t just give me that information and not make me worried about it Mikey,” Leo wiggled the handle until it fit cleanly against the jagged piece, “he turned off Shelldon? His most recent pride and joy turtle robot son?”

“He made Shelldon,” Mikey put the glue gun down and sighed, “he knows more about him than us and updates him like… every week.”

“I think somethings up with him,” Leo whispered, Leo’s fist clenched tighter against the metal handle and his fist paled.

Mikey unplugged the glue gun and his tone turned into a mix of concern and reason, “Shelldon needs a coolant change three times a day,” he set the gun down to let it cool , with a sigh he continued, “is it really so unbelievable to you that Donnie would want to fix that?”

“Something is wrong Mikey,” Leo’s whisper rose and he took a step closer to Mikey. 

Mikey looked nervous as Leo approached. “Stop it Leo,” he warned.

“He’s been acting so weird, with the coffee, dancing, backwash, staring at me!” Leo’s voice was rising. “Are you seriously telling me that he turned off Shelldon and you’re not even a little concerned?” Leo grasped at Mikey’s arm loosely. 

Mikey looked at the hand and then back to Leo, squinting as he studied Leo carefully. After a pause, “Leo, why were you up this late anyway?”

Leo was taken aback by the question. He scoffed and shook his head as he stuttered his response. “We’re not talking about me, here, we’re talking about Donnie.”

“Yeah, but…” Mikey was starting to see the heavy bags under his eyes, “how long have you been awake?”

“Mikey, please, are you concerned or not?”

Mikey’s voice was soft and patient, but it couldn’t blanket the anxiety that was underneath “Is it the Insomnia?”

“Mikey, I am actually getting scared,” there was a shake in Leo’s voice. “He’s been acting like a stranger.”

“How much have you slept?” Mikey continued, “you’re not acting like yourself-”

Leo rose into a frantic shout, “he’s not acting like Donnie!” Mikey stumbled at the rise in his voice, shaken by the sudden hostility he stared at Leo with quivering eyes. 

“I-”

“What are you guys doing?” They both jumped at the sudden voice. Leo looked towards the floor hatch where Donnie was. He was only halfway through, leaning his head in one hand as he watched inquisitively.

“Uh,” Leo started, “we were just-” The handle fell to the floor with a bang. Mikey and Leo looked at the handle and then each other. If they could sweat, Mikey would be sweating bullets. He was painfully nervous, and so was Leo. How much did Donnie hear?

Leo swallowed the knot in his throat, “hey Donnie,” Donnie’s eyes flickered to Leo and took mark of him from top to bottom. Leo swallowed again. “Whatcha doin-”

“I broke the ice cream maker!” The answer burst out of Mikey and he was suddenly ranting again. “I woke up and after talking all day and eating dinner I forgot to have dessert so I woke up and I just really wanted something sweet and I know that you had just added marshmallow and creamsicle flavor so I thought I’d just come in here real quick and grab some but then the handle wouldn’t go down and I thought “ok I guess i’ll pull a little harder” and then it just SNAPPED in my hands! I got my glue stick, and it was my favorite glue stick because it’s worked on everything so far, even dad’s favorite mug, but then it wouldn’t stick so I-” Leo tuned Mikey out and studied Donnie from the corner of his eye.

Donnie gazed nonchalantly at the handle before he considered the two of them. His eyes shifted between Mikey and Leo, and for a moment he just sat in the floor hatch, listening to Mikey quietly. He looked at Leo again, and as Donnie’s eyes narrowed a weight resettled in Leo's stomach, almost dragging him down to the floor. Donnie smiled, and Leo shivered. Donnie stood up from the floor hatch and placed himself between Leo and Mikey, shell to Leo.

“-and then we tried the hot glue and it was working for a second and then BAM, it fell to the floor and I am so so, So! Sorry Donnie I know how important it was to you and I shouldn’t have even-” Mikey stopped when Donnie pulled him in for a hug.

“It’s okay Micheal,” he spoke softly as he embraced Mikey carefully. “Accidents happen.” 

“Re- really?” Mikey spoke hesitantly, carefully bringing his arms up to hold Donnie back, as carefully as someone would approach an animal that might run away. Donnie never initiated hugs. “You’re not mad?”

“Of course not!” Donnie laughed, “it’s just an ice cream maker, no biggie!”

“But still, I shouldn't have-”

“You know what,” Donnie cut him off. “Why don’t we both have some ice cream together?”

Leo found his voice.“What?”

Donnie looked over his shoulder at Leo with a wide grin before looking back to Mikey “I just finished making a brand new ice cream maker in my lab!”

“Like… right now?” Leo was confused.

“No you dum-dum,” Donnie laughed heartily, “earlier today, right after dinner.”

“You mean yesterday?” Mikey chirped.

“Whatever,” Donnie expressively waved his hand, “do you want some ice cream or not?”

Mickey laughed hesitantly at the offer, squeezing Donnie tightly before letting go with a nervous laugh. “I mean-”

Purple continued, “We could have mango flavor, sprinkles and chocolate, coffee and cream, or even that new one you wanted to try, creamsicle and marshmallow!” He threw an arm over Mikey’s shoulders. “For breakfast!”

“Sure…” In disbelief, Mikey slowly returned to his ecstatic senses, quickly perking up with excitement as Donnie began to lead him towards the door of the tank. “Sure! Yeah, yeah!”

“Great!” Donnie smiled eagerly and Mikey started talking about possible ice cream combinations that he was going to try. Mikey was smiling so happily and Donnie listened fondly as he rambled on a more positive note. He held him closely, hugging him tightly by the shoulder as they approached the passenger seat door. Leo stood still, uncertain with what to do or what to say. Donnie looked back, and his grin widened.

Leo grabbed Mikey’s hand instinctively, addressing Donnie before they could go any farther, “wait!”

Donnie hummed.

Leo’s voice was choked as he tried to find a reason for stopping them. “Isn’t it a little early for ice cream?”

“No.” Mikey and Donnie said in unison, and Donnie laughed before Mikey could, the mischief in Donnie’s eyes twinkled, “want to join us?” 

Leo did not. The rock in his stomach had grown into his legs and he didn’t want to leave, he didn’t want Mikey to go either. Something was wrong while at the same time nothing was wrong. He shouldn’t be worried, nothing _bad_ has happened, so why was he so full of dread. “We’ve still gotta fix the machine in here, right, Mikey?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Donnie scoffed, “I’ll fix it later.” He flicked open the door and Mikey was pulled out of Leo’s hands. Mikey looked back with a smile, but it broke when he saw Leo’s face. ‘Don’t let him go,’ the small voice whispered. Too late.

Leo watched from the window as they walked towards the door of the garage. Mikey was back to rambling and Donnie held him closely as they exited. Leo yawned so hard it made him dizzy, he stumbled back to the counter and growled as he rubbed his face. What was wrong? What was wrong with Donnie? What was wrong with him? He stayed there for another few minutes, closing his eyes and breathing as he tried to get a grip on himself.

He turned off every light in the turtle tank and closed the floor hatch before locking up the garage for the night. As he walked back into the common room he could see that the lights were still on in the Lab. Mikey’s loud voice was ecstatic as he talked about ice cream and the plans that he and Raph had made with Dad.

Leo dragged open the curtain to his room and closed it behind him just as he heard Raph shouting for them to be quiet. He picked his blanket up off of the floor and flopped onto the bed, curling into a tight ball under the thick sheet trying to drown the noise of Donnie and Mikey’s stifled giggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really worried about the dialog in this one, but hey! I guess we'll see what happens next.


	4. Out of

Leo screamed into his pillow. It was noon and he hadn’t gotten a minute of rest. He had zoned out once or twice, but nothing worthy of the name ‘sleep’ occurred in the 8 hours he had laid there. He had tried everything. Turning, tossing, blanket, no blanket, a trip to the bathroom, sit ups, boring reading, warm milk (he didn’t need anymore tea). Nothing had worked. 

He flipped back over onto his shell and stared at the bottom of the shelves above his bed. Then sighed and pulled his pillow over his face, maybe if he suffocated himself he could catch an hour or two. Maybe he could suffocate himself, and listen to music at the same time, that way he could blink out of consciousness to the sound of Enya. With one hand he started patting around for his phone, when he couldn’t find it blindly he sat up and scanned the room. He checked under his blanket and pillow, and then checked the shelving above his bed. Nothing. Forget music, how was he supposed to get his social media fix if he didn’t have his phone? He considered just leaving his room for a moment but bypassed the thought by selecting a random magazine from his book shelf. With a quick flip he opened it to a random page and started reading an article about the physics associated with throwing ‘the perfect basket’. He was bored within two sentences.

Leo opened the curtain to his room, “Hey! Has anyone seen my phone?” The common space was dim, only the christmas lights above the vert ramp provided any sort of lighting. Leo stepped into the center of the room. He scanned briefly, listening for any indication that his brothers were home. “Raph, Mikey? Dad?” No response. He yawned and stretched, trying to rub some of the irritation out of his eyes. 

Leo checked the living room first, Dad’s projector was off, and his seat was empty (both of these being very rare occurrences.) The only remnants of someone being in the kitchen was the stack of dirty dishes in the sink, the turtle tank was still in the garage, but nobody was in it, and the gaming room was untouched. Leo even mustered up the courage to check the bedrooms. All empty. Leo reentered the common room and dragged his hand across the vert-ramp as he passed it, placing himself back into the center of the room as the disturbing feeling of anxiety crept in. He spoke quietly to himself, “where is everybody?”

“They went to the store.” Leo jumped and whipped around. Donnie was sitting on the ledge of the second floor idly swinging his legs as he watched Leo from above. “They won’t be back for a while.”

Leo’s throat was dry, making his reply sound choked. “Oh.” He looked towards his bedroom, wondering why he even left it in the first place. “They left in the middle of the day?”

“Yeah,” Donnie leaned back in his seat, stretching his back until there was a pop. “Dad said something about this being the best time of the day to shop.”

Leo grimaced at the thought, Dad probably shaved himself again and now Mikey and Raph were stuck with him and his “cool-kid” outfit. There was an awkward beat of silence and Leo looked back to his room. The thought of being alone in the house with Donnie was making him feel a sense of dread in his guts, maybe he could slip out for the day and go skating again, just until Dad and his other two brothers got home, or maybe he could meet up with them? Leo could also just be on the topside long enough for this feeling to go away, ‘nothing like some fresh air,’ he thought. He could always visit Albearto land. They were pretty crowd-free during the mid-day, especially considering the dreary weather, and they didn’t mind the “costumes”. Leo took a deep breath in and clapped his hands together. “Well… good to know,” he took a side step back in the direction of his room, he’d just grab his hoodie and his board, he’d forget about the phone for now (god forgive him), and he’d be back before in an hour or two when everybody else was home, “catch ya’ later!”

“Now, hold on,” Donnie jumped down from the second floor, “what particular activities do you have scheduled for today, oh, brother of mine?”

“Ha ha, well…” come on, think of something, “I was gonna hit up Albearto Land for a couple of hours, y’know... just hang out, grab some funnel cake-”

Donnie interjected with an arm around Leo’s shoulder. “I absolutely love funnel cake! Let’s go together. We can take the tank.”

“Aw, you don’t have to do that…” Donnie’s face was too close and not cheery enough to ease the ball that formed in Leo’s intestines, “I know you're super busy, with the surprise and everything.”

“For you, and funnel cake?” Donnie looked away thoughtfully, “it can wait.”

A shudder ripped through him, Leo tried slipping out from under Donnie’s arm, there was a moment where Donnie tightened his grip before letting him go. Leo pushed off and looked back towards his room, he didn’t mean for his eyes to fall on his sword, but they did. Why did he want it in his hands so badly right now? He tore away his gaze and focussed back on Donnie. “No thanks.”

Donnie gave a confused chuckle. “No thanks to what?”

Leo was blunt now, “I don’t really feel like hanging out with you today,” he turned away as he began walking again.

“Why not?” Donnie gave an aggravated huff, “we haven’t hung out enough, just us two.” He put his hands up defensively and circled Leo to get closer. “How did you put it? The “Cool Colors?””

Leo twitched at that. He tried closing the curtain behind him but Donnie ripped it back open,he was in his space now and the discomfort was making Leo’s skin crawl.

“C’mon Leo,” he whined, “we could hit up ‘Run of the Mill’ on our way there, I know you love their pizza.”

Leonardo ignored the quiet grumble in his stomach at the mention of Hueso’s, “I’m not hungry right now,” he pulled his board from the wall and looked back at his sword. Should he take it with him? “Plus, I love all pizza… Donnie.” The name didn’t feel right on his tongue. Leo clipped his belt on and attached his sword, he immediately felt a wash of relief ease his senses when he felt the pressure of it against his shell. Now he just needed to get out of here.

“You’re passing up Run of the Mill?” Donnie chuckled again, “you must really not be feeling good.” Donnie leaned against the door of Leo’s room and tilted his head with concern. “Been getting enough sleep?” There was something smug in his voice and Leonardo fought a scowl.

Leo only grumbled as he finished slipping on his hoodie. “Bye.”

“Wait, what was that about your phone earlier? I could help you find it.”

“I don’t need it.” He bumped shoulders with Donnie on his way out of his room.

“No, no, here,” Donatello whipped out his own phone and quickly typed, “I’ll just call it right now.”

“It’s on vibrate,” Leo growled, “and I said I don’t need it!” It wasn’t about the phone, he just didn’t want to be in the house with Donnie any longer.

Purple grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. “It’s ringing, just hang out for a minute,” he cooed.

Leo wanted to growl, to push him off, or just shout, but then he heard the loud vibration of his cell coming from inside his room.

“Well, whaddya know!” Donnie smiled and let go of Leo. “It’s right there in your room!”

Donnie looked to Leo expectantly. Leo felt the tension rise as neither of them said anything. The sound of Leo’s phone repeated itself and Leonardo glanced towards his room, and then back to Donnie who stood behind him looking coy. ‘Just leave, now.’ The small voice inside of him chastised him for still being here, at home, with Donnie. But… If it was right there… why not just grab it and go? The vibrations stopped and Donnie’s expression faltered for a moment.

“Here.” Donnie stretched his phone out to Leo, “find your phone and we’ll head to Albearto’s together, I bet I can beat more of their games than you.” Donatello’s teasing sounded softly sincere, but Blue still frowned.  
Leo wanted to argue. He did not want to go anywhere with him. He didn’t want to go to Albearto’s with him, he didn’t want to go to Hueso’s with him, he didn’t want to be in the tank with him, and he didn’t want to be home with him! Leo’s whole body was screaming for him to leave, just ditch the phone, leave it, you don’t need it, _just leave it_! He took the phone from Donnie’s hand and quickly typed in his own number.

The vibrations started again and Leo tentatively re-entered his room. Leo paused in the doorway. The noise was coming from under his bed. That’s right! He suddenly remembered last night, he remembered tossing his phone across the sheets and hearing it hit the floor. He looked towards Donnie again, who turned away when Leo looked at him, before getting down on his hands and knees. Leo could see that it was near the foot of the bed, vibrating with Donnie’s picture illuminating on the screen. Leo hung up Donnie’s phone and reached, quickly feeling the cool case of his own phone under his finger pads. Leo grasped it and pulled it out, sighing with relief as he slipped it in his hoodie pocket.

Leo jolted when Donnie’s phone went off. A quick check of the screen told him it was April.

He slid the green phone button to the left, “Why hello-”

“Donnie!” April shouted from across the speaker, causing Leo to flinch and pull the receiver away from his ear. “Where are you?”

“Uh, sorry April,” he hesitated as he stumbled up to his feet. “This is Leo.”

“Where. Is. Donnie!” She was obviously furious. Behind her Leo could hear something animal. “I told him about this a week ago!”

Leo stood up in confusion. “What do you mean, April… where are you?”

“I’m in the mystic city,” the sound of something similar to a crowing rooster sounded behind the call, “Mayhem needed to go to the vet and Donnie was  _ supposed _ to pick me up an hour ago!”

“What?” Leo was confused, “What’s wrong with Mayhem?”

April continued, “Donnie shouldn’t have taken my bike if he was gonna take two weeks to “improve” it! I get it, a simple bike is a little old fashioned but  _ two weeks _ ?!”

“Where are you in the city?” He heard April muffle the call as she asked someone the exact address, Leo turned to see Donnie standing on the threshold of his room. The center room was dim, but Leo’s room was dimmer. The light behind Donatello painted him into a hauntingly solemn figure as he stood motionless in Leo’s doorway. Leo heard April on the other end but didn’t look away from Donnie. “Sorry, what was that?

She sighed into the receiver, “I said, I’m under Central Park zoo.”

That was a good six miles away from where Leo was now, he suppressed a yawn as he spoke softly into the receiver, “is Sunita available, she’s closer.”

“No!” April shouted across the phone again, “Sunita is the one that got me here and she can’t pick me up because she’s at an event with her Dad, Donnie was supposed to be here! He promised!”

‘Well, that settles it then,’ Leo thought. He replied quickly as he moved to exit his room, “I’ll come get you.” Donnie’s fists clenched tightly and he stared at the phone in Leo’s hand as he passed. Leo ignored it but quickened his pace.

April sighed audibly. “Fine, but please get here quickly. For a city that’s underground they sure do get a lot of rainfall.”

“K, I’ll be there in a ‘sec.” He heard the line cut and the phone was pulled out of his hand. Leo turned to see Donnie smiling again, motioning towards the garage.

“Ready to go?”

Leo paused, confused. “Go…?”

“Albearto Land, remember?” Donnie laughed and grabbed Leo by the wrist. Leo felt a shiver crawl up his arm as Donnie bagan to pull him.

“Didn’t you hear me on the phone?” Leo shrugged Donnie’s hand off and backed up a step, rubbing the skin where Donnie had touched him trying to get rid of the feeling.“That was April.”

“So?”

So.  _ So? _ “So… she said that you were supposed to pick her up today?”

Donnie hummed as he positioned his hands on his hips, “y’know… now that you mention it, she did say something about, um…” He hummed again with a smile, “sorry, I don’t remember.”

Leo stood stupefied before turning around. “I’ll see you later Donnie, I’m going to go get April.”  
“Wait,” he heard Donnie walk after him, “she’ll be fine, let’s just head out and she can just get a cab or something.” Purple’s voice was getting more impatient the more Leo walked.

“She’ll be fine, Leo, come on.” 

Leo’s fists clenched and he felt a heat in his stomach as he walked faster. Flipping his hood on, he growled, “Donnie… shut up.”

Donatello paused and stopped, but only for a moment before he caught back up with Blue to put a hand on his shoulder, “What is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me?” Leo scoffed under his breath before he raised into a roar, “what’s wrong with you?!”

“What-”

“You all of a sudden want to spend time with me?” Leo spun around, facing Donnie and quickly closing the distance to point a finger in his chest. “ _ And _ you ditched April?! That’s not the Donnie I know! So what’s your game?” He kept going, the weight in his tummy was fuel for the aggression that started pouring out of him, “i’ll admit it, the coffee was no big deal, but the back-wash, the staring,  _ Shelldon _ ? So what is it Donnie!” He screamed, flattening his hand against Purples chest but resisted pushing him. “What is  _ wrong _ with you?!”

“Excuse me?” Donnie’s face darkened and Leo shivered under the icy stare. Leo moved to take a step back but Donnie grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie, pulling him back in close. “We’re brothers, right?”

Leo clasped onto Donnie’s wrist but it was set to an iron grip. Leo’s heart rate began to elevate and he could feel his own pulse through his throat. Donnie smiled.

“Brothers spend time together, right?”

“Donnie-” Leo’s hoodie squeezed around his throat as Donnie’s grip tightened.

“I just wanted to spend some time with you, Leo.” Donnie took a step back and Leo stumbled after him, trapped in this oddly strong grip that his twin held him in. “I’m always just shoving you off, and I’m sorry about that. I’m just trying to make it up to you.” He sounded sympathetic but his face was jeered into something menacing and mischievous.

“Let go, Don,” Leo gripped tighter on Donnie’s wrist, desperately trying to back up and pull away. The fire that was in his stomach was just petrified nausea now, screaming at him for not leaving when he had the chance.

Donatello continued, “is that so much to ask for?” Donnie tilted his head as he observed Leo. Leo was panting now, feeling a shake in his whole body as he desperately wanted to get away. Donnie’s expression flatlined, switching over to an expression of exhausted irritation and he sighed. “Ah, who am I kidding... you are the skeptical one of the family.” Donnie reached behind himself with his free hand and Leo’s vision shook as the hand on his Hoodie switched to his neck. “Let’s get this over with.”

Leo’s fist slammed into Donnie’s throat.

Donnie’s grip immediately released and he doubled over, clutching his airway as he backed away. Two black beads clattered to the floor but Leo ignored them for now.

Despite the chills, Leo immediately regretted his action, taking Donie by the shoulders as he began a coughing fit. “Donnie, I’m so sorry-” Donnie began retching. Leo moved behind Donnie, grasping him by the waist as he attempted to drag him to the edge of the common room so he could puke in the exposed water behind the vert ramp. Donnie grasped Leo by the sleeves, digging his heels into the concrete as he puked up liquid the color of tar. 

Donnie slowly looked over his shoulder at Leo, and a long black mass slivered from his mouth over his shoulder.

Leo wasn’t able to process the elbow in his face until after he had staggered backwards. He brought his hands up to his face but didn’t cover his eyes, watching Donnie as he stood up straight. It was like a snake, or a tentacle, black and dripping with whatever was pooled on the floor. It slowly retracted itself, tracing over Donnie’s cheek as it slid through his teeth. Donatello shut his mouth with an audible ‘click’ and cracked his neck as he turned towards Leo. Donnie hummed,  _ no _ , It hummed, and Leo finally remembered to breathe. Donnie’s bo expanded in Its hand and It took a step forward, spinning the tool theatrically as It took balanced steps around Leo.

Leo’s hands shook as he unsheathed his sword from under his hoodie, gripping the handle so tight his knuckles cramped. He took a step back for every step that It took towards him. Leo’s voice was shaky, almost as shaky as the pulse that he felt in his head and his heart, “what are you?”

It wasn't painting faces anymore. It’s expression was fixed into something both dark and dreamy as it stared Leo down. With a click of it’s tongue, It gave it’s answer with a wicked smile. “I’m Donnie.” Then It lunged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a little longer for me to write, I got stuck and then ended up not working on it for like 2 day. Sorry guys :') April called at a good time, not good for her, but good for Leo! Wonder what's up with Mayhem? We'll see!


	5. Not a Dance Anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters kinda short, I cranked it out a little bit faster than the other ones.

Leonardo rolled off to the side to avoid Donnie - no- ‘Its’ grapple. His quick recovery was met with the mace end of Donnie’s tech-bo brushing the skin between his eyes as it swung past. Leo jumped back to dodge the next strike, and the next, but faltered when the back of his foot snagged on a crack in the floor. ‘It’ takes advantage of Leo’s imbalance and sucker kicks him in the stomach hard enough to make Leo’s vision shudder.

Leo slides back with a cough as the taste of bile rose to his throat, cradling his stomach. He brought his sword back up but a sharp crack to the face with Donnie’s stick was enough to crumble the rest of his balance and Leo met the floor. He hears the blade of his sword hit the floor with a metallic twang but he doesn’t have time to look when a flash of purple takes his attention. His hands come up to meet the broad side of Donnie’s bo and he’s pushed further into the concrete as he fights it from crushing his throat. 

‘Its’ eyes are wide with excitement as it chuckles gruffly. “What’s wrong Leo, can’t hit your brother?”

Donnie was not stronger than Leo. Donnie has _never_ been stronger than Leo. He couldn’t put a dent in the side of a melon on a _good_ day, so why was Leo struggling so hard to keep this thing from pressing against his windpipe? Leo growled as he felt the strain in his arms. “You’re not my brother!” 

“You sure about that?” It whispered as it changed position, “Leo, are you sure?” It pushes harder as it straddles Leo, hovering over him and blocking out the little light there was with a twisted grin.

Leo hears his wrists pop with the pressure. “Stop,” there’s a small chain of cracking as Donnie- or - It’s knuckles pop. It forces more and more weight into the metal stick.

“I think you’re just crazy!” ‘It’ mocks Leo with a laugh.

The staff is inching closer as Leo’s arms are starting to give way. Leonardo is scrambling beneath ‘It’, trying to kick or throw ‘It’ off or _something_ . With a cry Leo instinctively leans his head back to try and make some distance as the bo sarts to close in on his neck. Leo twists his body, flexes his guts, tries shifting his grip, anything to make this _stop_ \- and then there’s a digital ‘blip’.

Leo smiled with a grunt. “Maybe I am crazy,” he huffed and groaned as he found the strength to edge the stick away, even just a little. Donnie’s tech-bo beeped and a shower of metal plating shifted under both of their hands, “but you’re about to be over the moon.”

The dual-rocket setting was finalized and a flare of purple flames ignited. Blue could feel the heat from under his hoodie and winced as it started to burn his arm closest to the fire. The start of a word starts to form in ‘It’s’ mouth and Leo can see a flash of inky black behind Donnie’s teeth, he doesn’t stop to stare though, finally slipping one leg out and sending a forceful kick into its chest.

It grunts as it’s pushed back but maintains its grip as It and the bo begin to spin uncontrollably. Leo scans quickly to find his sword and staggers to his feet just as ‘It’ is sent crashing through the vert ramp. Leo picks up his sword and pulls out his phone as he starts running for the exit, speed dialing Raphael and clicking the green button. Leo goes for the exit by the kitchen, stopping at the threshold to the main sewer. The phone is ringing and Leo swings his sword in a familiar circle. The magic flickers and Leo’s shakes worsen, “c’mon, magic portal!” He tries again, swinging a larger, more exact circle as he catches his breath. The phone is ringing its familiar tune but there’s no answer yet, “please, please, _please_ .” The portal shimmers weakly for a moment before forming completely with an electric _zap_. He takes step forwards with a laugh of success, but it's cut short when his head is ripped back by the tails of his mask.

His wrist is squeezed painfully as ‘It’ presses a thumb into a nerve, making Leo’s hand cramp until his hands stop working and his phone falls to the floor.

“Who are you calling, Leo?” There is so much furry in Its shaky whisper. An arm swings around Leo’s neck and he’s pulled into a choke as he’s dragged backwards. “Raph?” It chuckles darkly, “you think he’ll believe you?” 

Leo’s screen turned colors as a timer appeared.

“Hello?” Raph’s tiny voice emitted from the speaker, Leo screamed Raph’s name but his voice was cut short when the grip around his throat tightened enough for Blue to see spots. “What was that? Leo?” The small echo of Raph’s concern was enough to make Leo cry. Leo tried to say something, anything, _Please Raph please come home, please help me_ , he didn’t have enough air to even gargle. ‘It’ paused, looking down on the phone for a moment before stomping down on it with enough force to shatter the phone in half.

Leo held tightly onto his sword, he wasn’t going to let it fall this time. He ripped his hand out of Its grip and tried prying off the tightening appendage. He got a breath of air and coughed as a single tear soaked his mask. “Let go!”

“He won’t believe you,” It started, pulling Leo back from the portal. “Do you think any of them will believe you? You haven’t slept in days and it’s made you look crazy.” The portal began to slowly shrink as ‘It’ increased the distance between them and the swirling blue.

“Stop it,” Leo kicked and struggled _hard_ , twisting in place as he groaned and cried out trying to escape Its grip.

It laughed into Leo’s ear, brushing up on the side of Leo’s head with its cheek, almost affectionately as it continued. “I’m Donnie,” it sang.

“No you’re not,” he gasped desperately. Leo started to feel the pressure increase again and his vision started to blur. In the mesh of his panicked mind, he thought, ‘where is this strength coming from?’

“I, _Donatello_ , the more humble twin am smart, talented” The portal was getting smaller and smaller as the time achingly passed. Leo dug his heels into the gritty concrete, stopping them for a moment. It hummed, “dependable, funny...” Leo’s hope was shrinking with the portal and ‘It’ knew it, so ‘It’ let them both be stationary as they watched the portal shrink together. “I’m one of the _actual_ favorites in the family.”

Leo knocked his head back at the same time that he elbowed Donnie in the Solar plexus. It hissed as it staggered backwards and Leo swung his sword down, ‘just get him in the battle shell and you’ll have enough time to-’ Leo’s thoughts were cut short when It caught the blade with Its hand. Donnie’s gloves were enough to keep from cutting, so it squeezed it’s fingers as it straightened up to stand to its full height. Leo could see the scrapes and bruises forming on Its skin from where it had crashed into the wooden ramp. Pieces of splintered wood speckled Donnies mask and Leo could see a few large chips stuck between Donnie’s battle shell.

Leo tugged at his sword. “Let go!” Leo looked back over his shoulder, the portal was so small now, he only had seconds before it was too small for him to fit and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to make a second one fast enough.

It chuckled darkly as Leo struggled, shifting ‘Its’ grip to hold the blade even tighter. “Raph hasn’t noticed a thing,” It cocked it’s head to the side and narrowed it’s eyes, “and Splinter wouldn’t believe you even if he _did_ love you.”

There’s a wet shift and the sound of fabric cutting as the sword slipped out of its hand. _Oh no_. Leo’s breath hitches when bubbles of red grow until they pool and spill onto the floor, he could see past the thin layer of skin and fat, and then the fleshy pink of muscle and then something white. There was a pause as ‘It’ stared at the gaping slice in Donnie’s hand. It didn’t think that Leo could do it. He had cut from one end of Donnie’s hand to the other. He had cut down to bone. 

Leo tries to say something, but all he comes up with is a shaky swallow and a gasp before he turns. 

‘It’ snaps out of the trance. “No!” ‘It’ races towards the portal, reaching to try and grapple Leo just as he jumps.

Leo is washed in electric blue before the portal fizzes out, leaving ‘It’ gasping for air with a bloody hand and nothing to show for it.

‘It’ stands there for a moment, in the silence. Its groans rise into a roar before slamming Donnie’s bleeding fist into the wall. 

It puts all of its weight into the fist as it slowly leans down until it’s forehead is flush with the wall. It growls as it shuts its eyes, thinking deeply as it searched its brain on what to do next.

‘It’ sighed, taking a few more deep breaths before pulling out Donnie’s phone, which was luckily unbroken considering that it had been thrown along with the body into the vert ramp. It only rang twice before a familiar voice answered.

“Hey, Donnie, what’s up?” There was a cheer in Raphael’s voice, he could be heard crunching on something as he spoke. “I just got a call from Leo but it got cut off, is everything okay?” It’s expression twitched at the thought of Leo.

“Raph, you guys need to get home right now.” ‘It’ played up the shake that was already in Donnie’s breath from the fight, presenting desperate concern with a touch of pain as it spoke through the receiver, “I think Leo’s is sick, or maybe just crazy, but...” It began walking towards the bathroom but stopped, better let it bleed for a bit longer, “he just attacked me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh I have never written a fight in my life. So Leo has gotten away? Where to I wonder?


End file.
